I often receive emails from patients asking what’s the best treatment for hypothyroidism in terms of hormone replacement you have two choices synthetic hormones and the natural thyroid hormone like armor the synthetic hormone is the most common form of treatment hypothyroid patients received when you see your doctor you’re usually presented with a prescription for
Generic levothyroxine or synthroid well some people respond well to that type of treatment others still suffer from debilitating symptoms sometimes you’ll need your dosage adjusted in order to feel better or you may be given a combination of t4 and t3 the main problem with taking synthetic thyroid hormone is that it doesn’t do anything for the actual cause of your
Condition and that paves a way for other autoimmune conditions developing in the future some patients prefer the natural thyroid hormone made from porcine or bovine thyroid glands there are several brands available like arma west thyroid and nature thyroid when a patient isn’t doing so well on synthetic hormones he or she might be prescribed natural thyroid hormone
Some people prefer to try out both types in the course of several weeks to determine which one is better for them as in the case with synthetic hormones natural hormones also do not address the cause of the disease all they do is manage the symptoms stemming from low thyroid hormone levels so it becomes clear that if you want to recover and restore your health
You’d need to find out what caused your disease in the first place most hashimoto’s patients are totaled by their doctor that they will need to take pills forever but that’s not always the case many patients can restore the function of their thyroid gland back to normal by following the right treatment protocol another very important thing i want to mention today
Is knowing how to take your thyroid medication correctly the key is consistency take the same dosage at the same time of the day with the same interval from foods after you’ve been on the medication for a few weeks you’ll notice that your body is actually expecting a dose of thyroxine at that time if you become inconsistent with the timing undesirable side effects
May occur consistency is more important than which time of the day you choose to take your medicine although most doctors recommend taking levothyroxine first thing in the morning many people find they suffer from fewer side-effects if they take their dose mid-morning or even last thing at night recent studies have shown that a nighttime dose seems to be the most
Effective least disruptive and best tolerated time for taking thyroid medication so you might want to reconsider it if you’re taking it in the morning and suffer from side effects the majority of the thyroxine dose is absorbed from the small intestine so make sure you drink a full glass of water with your medication allow at least one hour before eating or drinking
Anything else besides water to allow the medication to be absorbed and converted correctly in the body wait at least four hours between taking calcium or iron supplements and a dose of thyroxine be sure to check that any orange juice you drink is not fortified with calcium as even a small amount can affect absorption some substance is fine with the leba boxing so
That it cannot cross the gut wall to be absorbed these substances should never be taken at the same time or within an hour of taking thyroxine tablets some examples are iron salts and acids milk and soy based formulas recent research suggests that caffeine may also prevent full absorption of levothyroxine thanks for watching this short presentation and i’ll see you in the next video
Transcribed from video
Hypothyroidism Treatment Options – How to Take Synthroid/Levothyroxine Correctly By Thyroid Disease Support Network
